Flue-point and its attachment to flue-sheets.



O. S. COLEMAN.

FLUE POINT AND ITS ATTACHMENT T0 FLUE SHEETS.

I APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2, 1908.

949,621. Patented Feb. 15,1910.

INVENTOR CHHRL/i? 6. 00L EMA/v.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS PATNT UFFTCE.

CHARLES S. COLEMAN, 0F SPOKANE, VIASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR T0 RAILWAY IMPROVE- IMENT COMPANY, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTQN, A CORPORATION.

ELITE-POINT AND ITS ATTACHMENT TO FLUE-SHEETS.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES S. COLE- MAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at O 2612 Adams street, Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of ashington, have invented an Improvement in Flue- Points and Their Attachment to Flue- Sheets, of which the following is a specification.

A place of special weakness in locomotive boilers is the joint between the lines and flue-sheet. Hence the boiler. frequently leaks at this point, even on the first trip, and in no instance in the use of the ordinary line and fine-sheet have such boilers been known to run without leaking for a longer period than seven months. The result is, that, in the operation of therailroad, every locomotive employed is liable who tied up practically one-tenth of its entire period of use. The cause of leak between the fines and flue-sheet is chiefly expansion and contraction due to constantly changing the temperature in the fire-box and the quivering of the tines during violent pull upon an upgrade. The expansion is, first, in the length of the fine, and, second, of the bead of the joint formed with the flue-sheet within the tirej-box. The fine expands in length, when heated, and correspondingly contracts in length, when cooled. In a fine twenty feet long, the expansion may be one-eighth or nearly one-fourth of an inch, and thus great pressure is exerted by the tines against the tine-sheet. The ends of the flues 1n the fire box are very highly heated and they give way first. in other words, fines always leak first at the fire box end and seldom leak at the front end of the locomotive. lhe fines also expand and contract diametrically or circumfcrentially, so that contact between the tlue points and the fine-sheet soon becomes iniperfect or loosened.

T have demonstrated by numerous experiments, that, by providing the flue-point with a recessed shoulder, and by employing a gasket of soft metal, preferably copper, the same being provided with a bend which is interposed between the flue-sheet and the shoulder of the fine-point, and by expanding and beading the outer ends of the flue-point and gasket on' the outer side of the fluesheet, I am able to form a very tight joint Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15, 39MB.

Application filed June 2, 1908. Serial No. 436,222.

which will compensate for expansion and contraction and by which leakage is practically avoided.

The details of construction,arrangement, and combination of parts are as hereinafter described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a tluc-- point and gasket and a section of a fluesheet,f all constructed and connected according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of a portion of a flue-point pro vided with an under-cut shoulder. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of a copper gasket forming part of the joint between the fluke point and fiue sheet. Fig. 4 is a cross section of such gasket.

Referring first to Fig. l, A indicates a flue-point and B the tine-sheetto which the fornn-nis attached. C is the copper gasket forming a part of the joint between the fluepoint and the flue-sheet. The ordinary or standard flue of locomotive boilers is made comparatively thin, or of about three thirtyseconds of an inch in thickness. I employ a flue-point of at least double this thickness, and it is connected with the ordinary fine a by means of a suitable joint. The front end a ofthe flue-point A is lathed or turned off to about half the thickness of the point, or to the thickness of the ordinary flue a, and an under-cut, or acute-angled, shoulder a is formed at the inner end of the portion thus turned off.

The hole in thefiucshcct 15, for reception of the tine-point A,'is roamed out on the firebox side, so that it is larger on that side and narrowest at the inner side. into this opening, the copper gasket C is inserted before the flue-point A is put in place. The said gasket comprises a cylindrical body having at one end or edge a bead (2 which is practically circular in cross section. heavy weight of iron is held against the front end of the locomotive fine, and with the strokes of a heavy hammer, the due is brought firmly into place, the roll or bead c of the gasket being thus forced against the shoulder a and into the annular recess provided thereby. The lathed ofi' portion a of the flue point A is then expanded together with the body of the gasket C, by means of any suitable expanding tool, or mandrel, and

Then. a

the outer edges a of both flue-point and gasket are turned over on the outer side of the fine-sheet by means of any suitable beading tool.

The action of the joint is as follows: The more the flue expands longitudinally, the tighter becomes the contact with the shoulder (4 at the inner end of the lathed-off poragainst the face of the latter, and therefore,

the tighter becomes the joint.

As an incident of use, by force of expansion of the fine and flue-point, the bead or shoulder c of the soft metal gasket may be slightly compressed and distorted, as indicated in Fig. 1, which has the efi'ect however, of further increasing the tightness of the joint.

What- I claim is:

The combination, with a flue-sheet having an opening tapered or enlarged from the inside out\'va1'd, of a flue-point having double the ordinary thickness of the ordinary flue and providedwith a lathedbft or reduced portion at its outer end, the same terminating in a concave annular shoulder, and a soft-metal gasket comprising a cylindrical body and a thickened bead or roll at one edge which gasket interposed between the reduced and shouldered portion of the flue point and the adjacent portions of the fluesheet, the outer ends of the flue-point and gasket being turned outward and headed on the fiue-sheet, as and for the purpose specified.

CHAS. S. COLEMAN.

"itnesses CHRES Manrson, C rus. T. CLARK. 

